THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Joan McLean

“I treasured my time at the National Women’s Political Caucus. It was an age in which you could do things without much background. But then you find a person like Millie Jeffrey, who’s willing to teach you everything you need to know.”

Lifelong advocate for human, civil, women’s, LGBTQ+ rights. Author, Educator, Strategist, Organizer. Political director of the National Women’s Political Caucus. Deputy vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. A Carter delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1976. Worked on the Carter-Mondale campaign advance staff. Political advisor to congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro in the 1984 vice presidential race. Member of the convention staff at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. ERAmerica, Completed a documentary on Mildred Jeffrey, “The Secret to Change.” Bachelor’s degree, University of Florida. Master’s degree and PhD, Ohio State University.

Interviewed by Judy Waxman, Oral Historian, February 2023

Photo. Team A (the original five) and Team B, all of whom worked to get Geraldine Ferraro to break the glass ceiling, reunited in the early ’90s. Clockwise from top: Nanette Falkenberg, Joanne Howes, Joan McLean, Millie Jeffrey, Eleanor Lewis, Ranny Cooper, Joanne Symons. (Photo, Joan McLean)